Gary Ross To Direct ‘The Hunger Games’

According to Variety, Gary Ross has signed on to direct the first film of the hugely popular young adult book trilogy, The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins.

Ross seems a bit of an odd choice asSeabiscuit and Pleasantville sit as his only directing credits. While both were fine enough films, I’m not seeing the thrilling, gritty, romantic side that The Hunger Games should be. Although he did work on the rewrite of Spider-Man 4, but I don’t know if that counts.

The first Hunger Games film is extremely important as this could be a huge franchise somewhere between Harry Potter and Twilight, hopefully closer to the former.

Nina Jacobson (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) is producing. Collins is writing the screenplay herself, while Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach and the under-appreciated State of Play) is helping with the final draft.

Now that a director has been chosen, the search for Katniss can begin.